Million-to-One Chances
by Caligo Nox
Summary: I'ts Korra's sixth year at Hogwarts, and even if her and her friends are all in different houses, she's going to live it to the fullest.
Korra-

As soon as I saw the owl coming, I knew it was from Hogwarts. Every year it was the same, the only letter I received during my summer break was the one containing the list of books I was going to need for the academic year to come. After all, we always spent the summer in Greenland with my mother's side of the family, and that was just a bit out of owl's range.

It was a bit sad, because I would have loved to exchange mail with my friends, still, I could always get news from them by means that didn't involve animal cruelty. Muggle post, for one.

But Hogwarts' owls had always had an higher gear and the Headmaster never thought about it twice before sending them across the ocean. (I suspected Filch hopped them up, although Mako found this idea to be ' _ridiculous and silly_ '.)

 _Damn, it was about time!_ , I thought, tightening my grip around the broom handle. I had already spent three days up there, perched on my nimbus, scrutinising the horizon; waiting for that wretched owl.

And, of course, freezing to death.

Generally, I didn't care too much. I just let my parents be the ones to hand me the letter so that I could open it in front of them. But this time it was different.

This time I had to intercept it before it could fall into the wrong hands. Which were their hands, of course. Not that anyone's hands would have been better, mine were probably the only right hands around; that was why _I_ _had_ to do this.

The thing was that this letter would have contained the results of my O.W.L.s, and I wasn't too confident. But I tried to stay positive. And indeed, I was positive that I fucked everything up.

I tried to shoot toward the bird, but my body was too numb from the cold and I missed it by inches, so I stretched out my arms in a last, desperate, attempt to catch it, which only resulted in me falling onto the poor creature. The owl, on the other hand, was probably too tired to even try and get out of my way, and we both landed in a big unhappy living ball into the freezing-cold waves of the Pacific ocean.

All I could do was to cry out a very dramatic 'NOOOOOooooooo!' before splashing into the water.

The cold was breath-taking. Not that I could have breathed underwater anyway, of course. At least, not without casting a spell beforehand, and I hadn't really had the time to do that now.

I kicked at the water, trying to come to the surface, desperate for air. I held the bird high in one hand, while with the other I rummaged my pockets, searching for my wand. Where was that damn thing? _Ah, there it is._

 _Alarte ascendere!_ , I thought desperately, pointing the wand to myself. It worked. I shot up out of the water and high into the air, gasping for breath, only to land a split second later on a particularly sharp portion of the cliff wall, of course, head first. I blacked out for a couple of seconds, lulled by the cold waves, until I felt something pulling me toward the shore. I tried to turn my head so that I could look at my saviour, but I was too sore. White fur was all that I could make out. _Naga. Good girl_.

I coughed, shaking visibly, half crawling, half pulled on the sand by the polar bear. I wanted to curl up right there and then, but there was an owl that needed my help. I laid it on the sand and examined carefully. It was unconscious. _Oh my god, is it still alive? Please, please, please, be alive. Ohhh, there it is my letter!_ my thoughts raced, resisting the urge to snatch the envelope out of the bird's claw. _But, errr, I have to take care of this little guy first. Of course._

I rested my ear on the owl's chest and I heard the feeble, fast beat of it's heart; thank Godric for that. I tried to ignore the pain cutting through my head, making an the effort to recall the right enchantment to save this animal.

A couple of spells later and I was curled under Naga's fur, holding my letter with the (very angry) bird glaring at me by my side.

Korra triumphs against all odds once again. I was about to open the envelope when I saw something familiar being carried away by the waves. Something _very_ familiar, actually... _Extremely_ so, in fa- _For the love of Godric!_ I bolted upright out of the warmth of Naga's fur. _My bloody broom!_

* * *

I landed carefully onto the windowsill and then hopped happily into the warmth of my room, kissing profusely my beloved nimbus. It was a gift from Asami -her father was an associate of the company that produces them, along with tons of other stuff- and she would have probably killed me if I lost or damaged it. Thank Godric the British Minister of Magic couldn't trace my magic all the way up here and I could simply summon it before it disappeared beyond the horizon. _Suck it, losers!_

I was still soaking wet, bleeding, and freezing, but I couldn't help but feeling fortunate. I loved Greenland!

I got rid of my clothes and locked myself in the bathroom with the letter. I started opening it while I was waiting for the water running in the shower to get hot.

Oh, boy, what a day. It was sure to end up in my _how-dare-you-assume-it's-long_ list of things I must never, ever, under any circumstances, tell anyone.

I flipped through sheets of paper, caring relatively little about any information that had nothing to do with my O.W.L.s.

When I finally found what I was looking for, I glanced apprehensively at my grades and- _Hey, not bad at all! I might even have to undo my_ Escape-to-Canada _pack!_

* * *

Mako-

'Mako, look! It's Asami!', Bolin said, grabbing my arm.

'Yeah, it is definitely her', I replied. My brother always liked to announce our friends whenever we bumped into them, even if they where standing just a couple of feet away, like now.

'Hey, guys,' the girl smiled, approaching us. 'How are you?'.

I opened my mouth to reply but, of course, Bolin preceded me. 'Never been better! I've been waiting for this moment the whole summer', he said, trapping me and our friend in a tight -and when I say tight I mean _tight_ \- hug.

It's not like I didn't understand my little brother- in fact, I felt the same. But sometimes he could get... overwhelming. I patted his shoulder to signal him that the hug had lasted past beyond an appropriate amount of time, and he let go.

'How are you, Asami? How was France?', I asked once freed from my flesh and blood's grip.

'Give me five seconds,' she coughed, half laughing. 'France was great. I was thinking that we should definitely go on a trip together, next summer.'.

'Yeah, what a great idea!', said Bolin, 'we could go see Korra in Greenland!'.

'Hey, that would be actually amazing', she replied. 'By the way... Is she back already?'.

'Yep, she should be around here', I said. 'Although we haven't seen her yet.'. Not that I was really expecting to see her; not at first, at least. Korra was not the type of person you saw down the alleyway and said, oh, hey Korra, fancy seeing you here, how are you?; nope.

Usually, _she_ was the one to see _you_. And then you heard her, or, eventually, felt her-that is, if you can say that you _felt_ the car that ran you over- and only after that, if your eyeballs where still in their sockets, you generally saw her. The whole process may or may not have included physical pain.

Had I not known all this, I would have though that someone was hitting me with a bar when suddenly Korra, jumping out of nowhere, patted my shoulder with the strength of a rhino, shouting 'MAKO!'.

But I knew that that was just her way to greet her friends in general and me specifically, so I just closed my eyes shut, just in case.

'How are you guys? I missed you so much!' She greeted _the others_ like a normal person, pulling us in another group hug. At least, unlike my brother, she wasn't a python, and my ribcage didn't get cracked any further.

'Hey Korra', Asami smiled, then frowned. 'What happened to your head? How come you are always injured?!'

I looked at my energetic friend and she was right, Korra's head was wrapped in bandages.

She waved the questions off. 'Bolin! Congratulations for being appointed prefect!', she said instead.

'Well, thanks', he said sheepishly. 'Now we are all prefects.'

'Yep. This year we'll spend the ride on the Hogwarts Express all together, it'll be so much fun!'

'Errr, I wouldn't count on that, really.', I interrupted. 'Unless you find being lectured by Kuvira to be "fun"'

'What?!'.

'Yep, she's been appointed Head Girl'.

'Oh my Godric, I thought she graduated already. She looks so old'.

'No, she's just a year ahead of us'.

'Damn. Next year, it's got to be us. If Kuvira managed, we can too'.

'Don't be silly, we can't be all three Head Students, there are only two slots.'

'Well, then it will obviously be me and Asami', Korra smirked, resting her arm on the other girl's shoulders. Asami giggled.

'You can't be both Head Girls', I said. 'It's _one_ Head Girl and _one_ Head Boy per year'.

'Well, that's just sexist. I'm going to have to talk with Dumbledore about it'.

'Please don't', said Asami, removing Korra's arm from her shoulders. 'Rather, did you get all your stuff already?'

'Uh, no, I still need to get my books', Korra drew her list from her pocket to check. At the sight of the blood-stained papers, I exchanged worried glances with the others, but we didn't inquire. It was better not to know.

'Great, I haven't got mine either.', the girl replied instead.

And since neither me or Bolin had bought our textbooks yet, we all headed for the book shop.

* * *

(AN: Ok, so, this was the idea I had for this story that I had to write down immediately. I didn't do much research for it, because I didn't really have the time, and, like, I didn't specify what kind of nimbus Korra has, and other things like that, but I'll put much more effort into background research as I get deep into the story. For now, I only wanted to write something funny to begin with. To break the ice, so to speak. I think.

Also, this is my first story and English isn't my first language so, if it sucks there _is_ a reason. Sorry.)


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